HS Football: Curtis Defense Overwhelms Peninsula in Shutout

9/11/25

(University Place, WA) Week two of the high school football season got underway on Thursday night with a showdown at Bob Lucey Field in University Place. The Curtis Vikings would be playing on their home field for the second consecutive week and after a win over Mount Si, would try to make it two in a row. On the other sideline, the Peninsula Seahawks would try to shake off a rivalry loss in the Fish Bowl to Gig Harbor with a short week after playing on Thursday.

Curtis 23, Peninsula 0

Curtis received the opening kick of the game and got a big chunk play on a 22-yard pass from Sam Patterson to Alijah Johnson. Peninsula would then tighten things up and force a punt that rolled in the endzone for a touchback. On the Seahawks first play from scrimmage, they would fumble the handoff and it was recovered by Curtis. The Vikings started in Seahawk territory but Peninsula’s defense did a great job of bottling up the ground game. They would hold Curtis to a field goal attempt and Luca Neibergall would hit it from 33 yards to give Curtis a 3-0 lead.

A drop on the ensuing kickoff would have Peninsula start their next drive from their own seven-yard line. It would be a quick three-and-out with a punt coming from deep in their own endzone. Curtis once again got phenomenal starting field position at the Peninsula 24. Curtis continued to struggle to run the ball but still slowly pushed their way down the field. Tyce Kinley did start to make some tacklers miss and he would end up opening things up. Kinley fought hard to get into the endzone on a six-yard touchdown run which would extend the Curtis lead to 10-0.

A touchback on the kickoff would put the Seahawks back on the field but once again, the offense couldn’t get going. They would open up the 2nd quarter with a punt…or so it seemed. Lucas Wiseman would run the fake and had an open Aiden Muilenburg but just sailed the pass for a turnover on downs. Donte Ray exploded for a 12-yard carry to begin the drive to get to the 11. A hold would push the Vikings back and then a sack had them moving in the wrong direction. Curtis would have to attempt a 40-yard field goal with Luca Neibergall and he would miss it. However, a roughing the kicker gave Curtis an automatic first down and they cashed in. Tyce Kinley once again found paydirt with a three-yard score to open things up even more with Curtis leading 17-0.

The next drive for Peninsula would look promising. Lucas Wiseman, filling in as quarterback for Talen McDonnell, started getting some easy, high-percentage throws to open things up for the Seahawks. Trevor Bingham was his go-to guy but he was spreading the ball around. Wiseman also used his legs as the Seahawks moved into Viking territory for the first time all game. Another fumble would bring the drive to a screeching halt as Curtis took the ball back. They would also give it right back as Logan Johnson intercepted a pass on the very next play. Peninsula would be out of timeouts however and the clock expired on their drive and they would head into halftime trailing Curtis 17-0.

It would be Seahawk football to begin the 3rd quarter and they would get a nice return from Jake Martin, starting at their own 30. After a couple plays that went nowhere, Curtis would bring pressure and it paid off. Charlie Torrone hit Wiseman for a sack, forced fumble, and the ball was recovered by Jereme Scott Jr. Once again though, Curtis failed to capitalize too much on their takeaway. A big defensive play by Jett Ortega would force another Curtis field goal attempt which would be successful from Neibergall from 22-yards out to make it 20-0.

From that point on it was just the Curtis defense continuing to dominate. They would shutdown everything Peninsula tried to do with constant pressure in the Seahawk backfield with Martin and Wiseman unable to make anything happen. Rashaun and Robby Lavatai as well as Jereme Scott Jr. and Noah Sledge dominated in the trenches while Cole Yanos and Tyce Kinley cleaned up anything that got out of the tackle box with some help from the secondary as well. Curtis would add on one more field goal from a 34-yard attempt by Luca Neibergall to put this one away. The shutout would be complete as Curtis once again defended their homefield successfully with a 23-0 shutout over Peninsula.

Stats and MVP

Our Sumner Holiday Inn Express MVP of the game went to the defensive line for Curtis. The front four of Robby Lavatai, Jereme Scott Jr., Noah Sledge, and Rashaun Lavatai pressured both Peninsula’s quarterback and running backs constantly in the backfield and did not give up a yard easily. They made the Seahawks grind out each and every inch with their speed and suffocating pressure. The quartet tallied three sacks and three forced fumbles plus one recovery, though all the fumbles were recovered by the Vikings. They were game wreckers and made everything difficult for Peninsula.

Charlie Torrone also tallied a sack, forced fumble, and fumble recovery while Cole Yanos and Luca Neibergall both recovered fumbles as well. Neibergall would hit field goals from 33 yards, 22 yards, and 34 yards. On offense, Tyce Kinley was the standout with 19 carries for 61 yards and two touchdowns while also catching a two-yard pass. Donte Ray carried the ball six times for 26 yards and Langston Guien had a seven-yard carry. Sam Patterson carries the ball six times and went 6-16 through the air for 35 yards, including a pass to himself for a loss of five yards. Taylor Smith caught three of those passes for 16 yards and had three carries for 17 yards. Alijah Johnson caught one pass form 22 yards.

For Peninsula, backup QB Lucas Wiseman had a nice game, going 12-21 for 95 yards and carried the ball eight times for 10 yards. Jacob Martin would be the leading rusher with 14 carries for 25 yards. Max Ice also recorded one carry. Trevor Bingham was the go-to guy through the air, catching six passes for 32 yards. Martin also had two catches for 24 yards. Four different receivers had one catch a piece with Asher Epstein catching a 26-yard pass, Ethan Dietrich a seven-yard pass, and Aiden Muilenburg and Nemo Grandorff each a three-yard reception. On defense, Logan Johnson had a nice game with a big pass break-up in the endzone as well as an interception before halftime.

With the win, Curtis moves to 2-0 on the season but will hit the road for the first time this season in week 3. They will travel to Harry Lang Stadium on Friday, September 19th to take on the Lakes Lancers at 7pm in a game you can catch here on ESN. Peninsula drops to 0-2 and will get to play their first game on their home field next week. The Seahawks will welcome the Bonney Lake Panthers on Friday night to Roy Anderson Field at 7pm.

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